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well I only know what I have researched and every site I have read said that the paternal line isn't as strong. the following I pulled off some sites: "Fraternal twinning can be hereditary through the maternal line. There is some belief that it may also carry through the paternal line, but this has not been proven" http://mypage.direct.ca/c/csamson/multiples.html "Furthermore, the increased chance of twinning seems to be entirely a property of the mother, not the father" http://www.sciam.com/askexpert_question.cfm?articleID=00083E45-8E7F-1CD1-B4A8809EC588EEDF

and actually the 1 in 17 IS from studies of families w/ frat twinning not the spontanous births. I do agree that the paternal genetic line should have the same influence, but it isn't "visible" in twinning statistically like the maternal line.

"Can you name any other genetic trait that generally just "comes down" either the male or female side of one's family?" Actually hemophila is like that. Woman "carry" the gene yet it only shows up as a disease in males. Also just because someone's parent has a specific gene doesn't mean it will show up. My father has blue eyes yet didn't pa__s that to me. I have 3 children and a dh with light eyes yet none of my children have light eyes. As far as doc_mented cases of frat twinning pa__sing thru the paternal line...don't you think that reputable scientists know how to conduct a study with certain controls in place (ie) family history, age, use of birth control, etc?

to twins4us: your quotation of "Furthermore,- the increased chance of twinning seems to be entirely a property of the mother, not the father" is talking about the mother actually having said babies, not the *maternal line*. About hemophelia...I was afraid someone was going to bring that up...hemophelia is a "s_xed link" trait which is carried on the X chromosome. Women need two sets(because of double X) to be homozygous for hemophelia...while men, having only one X need only one set to be homozygous. There are other genetic conditions that are s_xed link...I would like to see *any* modic_m of evidence anywhere that suggests that twinning might be one of them. As far as none of your kids having light eyes...brown eyes are dominant over blue in 99.99% of all cases...this has been known for decades if not centuries. But..back to the fraternal twin "scientific" studies -- I have never been able to find the actual study, have you? Just people on webpages talking about these "studies" that exist...you know the mean human body temperature is actually 98.2 and not 98.6....the 98.6 was mistakenly recorded over a century ago, and no one really bothered to check up on it since. I am still interested in seeing these studies...wonder what the control group looked like.

I agree that the studies would be interesting to peruse. But a site by the nomotc would probably be pretty accurate. They cite the CDC and base their conclusions from their stats. As far as your 99.9%....I should be able draw conclusions from MY families history....yes I have brown eyes as do my 4 sibs but all of my sibs kids have blue eyes. So applying your logic about twins, I should have blue eye children even though the stat is 99.9% says they should be brown. Again antedotal evidence is not the same as empirical. Besides that my chances at a blue eyed child with a light eyed man according to the pundit chart is 25% not 1%.

One of my twins has blue eyes the other has brown. Pretty cool.

Yes, lots of studies still need to be done I suppose. BTW, I didn't say that you only had a 1% chance of having a blue eyed child...I just stated that brown eyes are *dominant* in 99.99% of cases(ie: I have only been able to find one family where blue eyes were actually dominant over brown -- they were African American believe it or not!)....knowing you are het for blue eyes because of your dad, yes your chances would be 25% for a blue eyed child because your husband has blue eyes...this still doesn't make blue dominant, you see? thank..

I am 38 years old, 6'2" tall and have a family history of twins. . . Both of my grandmothers delivered twins (my dad is a twin and my mom's older siblings are twins) What are the odds that I will have twins?

I know that this post is a lot late but I have been studying genetics lately and felt the need to elaborate. Amasu,twins are not hereditary, well there is no specific gene that will cause twins to run in a person's family. However, as you mentioned hyper-ovulation is hereditary and can be pa__sed down through generations, in both men and women, meaning men can as you mentioned pa__s it along to their daughter. Twins are pretty much a coincidence. I have read that in certain ethnicities twins are more common with each pregnancy a woman has. My cousin recently had twin girls, fraternal. No one on either side of the family had ever had twins, but this was her 11th pregnancy and babies 10 and 11 for her. Like you, I have not found any concrete research having been done on twins and genes, maybe at some points the Human Genome Project will find a connection but as of now, there is none. Just as when someone says that a certain genetic disorder skips a generation. It does not really skip a generation. A parent might not have the genetic disorder, but be a carrier of the disorder. If that parent and their partner are both carriers of the same genetic disorder then yes, it is likely their child may develop the genetic disorder. My cousin, who recently had twins, is in a bi-racial marriage, one of the girls was Caucasian and the other African American, beautiful children. I also have to comment on the eye color situation. I believe Gregor Mendel and his pea plants were where most of these conclusions came from, but my daughters all have beautiful blue eyes, just like myself; however, their father has brown eyes. ;)Good luck mommies and mommy-to-be's. My hubby and I have been trying for five years for another child. We have not been lucky but never giving up, we just stopped letting conception control our lives and will leave it in God's hands. After all, we have four children, none together and all girls. My oldest will be 18 in a couple of months, and has been talking marriage and children, with her military boyfriend, so I may be a grandmother before I get pregnant, if that should ever happen. Happy Pregnancy to you all.